I came to Norman based on the reviews here on Yelp, so I feel a duty to return with my experience, and really to warn others about who they are considering hiring. I will not talk much. I'll simply share Norman's own words and let you judge for yourself, whether this is someone you want as a practitioner of any kind, let alone someone who will have you under hypnosis.
I had my first session with Norman a few weeks ago. After the session I expressed my concerns that I didn't feel a shift toward what I wanted. This was his reply:
"Not to worry. I sensed that to move past the depth of these early influences would require a second inner child session and this is our plan. Lean in to the increment you felt and trust that what you felt is movement past some deep seated stuff. What you are experiencing is partly your subconscious mind a bit fearful of letting go these defense mechanisms that have helped you cope. All part of the process and a good sign to me. Trust. And let's be sure to nail down that next session as soon as possible." and "You do what is best for you. What I see is someone who isn't giving the process a chance because you have been conditioned to expect a magic pill and raised in a generation of instant gratification and as a result you are chasing."
I agreed to continue on with a second session. I got sick just before and canceled with 1 day's notice. A week later when I was feeling better we had the second session.
After the second session I knew that it was not working for me. Norman just reads off scripts during the sessions and it just was not getting down to the deep-rooted fear of success and abandonment I had come to him for. After the session, I told Norman via email it wasn't working and that I would need to go to another practitioner. I also said this: "Since I didn't see the effects I was expecting, I would like to use the rest of the money to hire another practitioner to try to get my issue resolved. Please let me know if you're agreeable to this." Based on the fact that he was selling results, and I got none and had already paid him $150, I felt completely justified in my request to not pay another $150 for more of no results. I expected he would either say "yes, go ahead and I hope you get the help you're looking for" or "no, I did the work Eric so please pay me". I did NOT expect this:
This is Norman's reply (in full, unedited):
"Hi Eric,
Thanks for your note. I'm sorry that you don't see the value of the work we have done so far. I see this as yet another example of your self-sabotage. Your subconscious mind wants to hold on to the ways it believes have served you and will have you rationalize a perspective that is cynical regarding the value of what you have experienced.
In my opinion you have been one of the most resistant clients I have ever worked with. Playing providers off of each other, asking if I could take you deep enough to get the work done, you set yourself up for failure from the very outset. I watched it unfold, but I held space for you because outwardly you said you wanted to do the work. But inwardly it was lip service. You hedged, you cancelled, and now this. All signs of not being serious about making progress. Good luck chasing providers until you find someone who tells you what you want to hear.
As for payment, I offered you a payment plan of $150 per session if you agreed to three sessions and allowed you to pay as you go. You paid for one session, but had two and now suggest to me that you feel you have paid enough.
Technically you would owe $400 and perhaps if you had paid full price you would have put more stock in what you were receiving and been more committed to the outcome. But I will honor the session price I quoted even though you are not going to participate in the third session. So as I see it, and being charitable, you at least owe the $150 for the second session. I hope I can count on you to do the right thing there. I showed up for you, was patient with you through your drama and put the time in.
I do hope you will stay in touch.
All the best,
Norman Plotkin CHt
Norman Plotkin Hypnotherapy"
Maybe you don't see anything wrong with the way he's speaking to me, placing all the blame of results on my end as I paid "lip service" while he "watched it unfold", "holding space" and was "patient through (my) drama". Maybe you think he's right. That's fine, you can go to him. Maybe you'll get the 5-star results that some others on this page said they have had. My personal opinion is that he is manipulative and dangerous. He's likely not even aware of what he's doing, but I am. There's something dark underneath, and I would not want to be in his chair for anything, especially hypnosis. read more